Caterpillar vs. Interstate batteries. 2 yr life?

[Andrew M. Frankli]

I bought two brand new Interstate batteries for my IDI two years ago. This winter, I have already had to jump this thing 6 times in 20 - 30 degree weather after the truck was sitting for 4 days. No parasitic draws, new starter, new monster gauge wiring. New alternator. I wonder if these batteries have just had it. I would expect 4-5 years out of batteries. Anyway, in anyone's else experience, do our trucks go through batteries faster?? I had heard or read that Caterpillar branded batteries are excellent. Anyone have an opinion on the best battery brand for our trucks? I don't care about paying extra $. I need my truck to be reliable. Thanks! -_Andy

 

[icanfixall]

I have used both brands and the Cats lasted much longer. Others will be chiming in for their experiances..

 

[RLDSL]

The quality of Interstates batteries seems to be going in the toilet. Even for their top end offering. I just had to replace an Optima red top out of one of my cars that was only about 2 1/2 years old, thing had gone dead as a doornail. wouldn't hold a charge more than about an hour. and another one that I had bought within about a month of it that was in a car that I sold, I found had croaked a few weeks earlier.
All this was from batteries made before they just closed the plant in Colorado. Now the Optimas are being made in Mexico.

 

[Ottoparts]

In my experience, Optima's seem to do good in daily drivers. But if they sit, they go to crap. Our wheelin trucks arent daily drivers and the optima's went dead with in a year. So we took them back and they actually warrantied them for us. But the second set did the same thing. No more optima's for us.

 

[icanfixall]

Years ago an old timer told me how the batteries are made to last for years. All batteries will drop sulfate off the plates when it charges. Its just the nature of the reactions going on in the battery. As this stuff drops down it builds up in the "tray" at the bottom of the battery. When it builds up enough to contact the bottom of the plates it grounds or kills cell charge on that plate. The deeper the tray the longer the battery life is. You can try to flush out this sulfate but.. Any that sticks in between the plates will kill the cells. Is any of this true.... I don't really know... I never tested it. I do know a diesel battery is build stronger than a car battery because diesels create more vibration that kills the battery.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

YES, if batteries had a deep-well bottom, they would last nearly forever.

Like said, the chemical reaction creates a sort of sludge that vibrates down to what battery manufacturers call the "mud sill', i.e. that little 1/4" area below the plates.

The deeper this area, the more room for this sludge to accumulate, and the longer it takes it to start touching the plates.


Back in the day of the old GE light-plants, they had a bank of batteries that looked like thick-sided GLASS aquariums, with the "guts" suspended in the electrolyte/acid by the top assembly.

It was common practice to occassionally pull the tops, dump the acid in the nearest creek, rinse out the glass reservoir, wash off the plate assembly, refill with new acid, and re-assemble.


If automotive batteries were made likewise, the battery would last longer than the engine.


Failure is engineered into the batteries we are forced to use.

 

[icanfixall]

Three years ago I retired from a geanerating station that had several banks of said glas batteries. They were about 2 ft wide. 3 ft tall and 2 ft deep. They were the emergancy 120 volt backup power for the emergancy turbine oil pumps and the turning gear to maintain a constant roll of the hot turbines in a hot shutdown. Sometimes we would loose the field because the 220,000 volt lines would go down. Airplane and helo crashes into the conducters. Its kinda like towing a heavy load up a long grade and you push in the clutch without getting off the throttle. Our turbines go into overspeed and trip off line. and if you lost all common power to the grid you need the aux 120 volt power for the pumps and motors to keep things from being ruined. Too bad we can't make a battery that will last... But then again some folks would be out of work. Just a double edge sword.

 

[maniac]

There are only about 2 or 3 battery manufacturers left in this country, so most batteries are just different labels, and pretty much the same.

I replace mine every 3 winters, never have any problems that way

 

[BigRigTech]

CAT batteries are very good, I hardly see any in for warranty at work on the rig's....Very well made and not all that expensive.

 

[ktpauley]

You might want to check the Deka battery thread. Deka also makes some of the Cat batteries. Keith

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

There are only about 2 or 3 battery manufacturers left in this country, so most batteries are just different labels, and pretty much the same.

I replace mine every 3 winters, never have any problems that way

SUPERLEX batteries are made in a big factory just up the road from me, in the same county.

I ?think? they also manufacture batteries for various other concerns.


A big majority of their batteries are trucked into Canada.







A good rule to follow is on a single battery set-up, replace at the beginning of each winter.

Two battery set-up, replace every second winter.

Three battery set-up, replace every third winter (I have three batteries in my personal truck).



I keep the old(er) batteries for use in stuff that doesn't venture far from the house.



Sure, it costs a little more when you replace batteries that haven't gave it up yet, but it isn't worth the piddling price of a battery to get caught out somewhere and the battery decide it is time to quit.

 

[Diesel JD]

I just replaced a set of Interstate MTP65s in September I got better than 4.5 years out of them. I have two Group 31 MHD Interstates in there now. It was down to those or the similar caterpillar branded ones. Not cheap but worth it if I ever run out of fuel. The last 6 months to a year those batteries were just wore the heck out. I changed them when I had the money to.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I dunno, I think You must have something draining them.

3 Years on My Interstates, still crank the truck like mad.

 

[maniac]

Sure, it costs a little more when you replace batteries that haven't gave it up yet, but it isn't worth the piddling price of a battery to get caught out somewhere and the battery decide it is time to quit.

Thats why after 3 winters, I change them, a road call to start my KW will cost more than the 4 batteries easily. Plus I change them in Sept, before the 4th winter, and before the cold weather

 

[Mike]

My 2 cents on batteries is go to Ford and get the stock replacement Motorcraft batteries. Mine have always gone 5 years per set and they cost literally no more than picking up batteries from one of the "other" suppliers.